'Dog-rape' child still missing
2003-09-03 12:18
Johannesburg - The 15-year-old girl reportedly forced to have sex with a dog by her employers was still missing after running away from a government place of safety over a month ago, Gauteng social services said on Wednesday.
Speaking for the Gauteng social services and population development department, Panyaza Lesufi said they had appointed a team of private investigators to back up police in the search for the girl, who disappeared from Norman House on August 2.
The case hit headlines earlier this year when a 24-year-old Taiwanese man and his 26-year-old sister were charged with forcing the 15-year-old to have sex with a dog as a punishment.
She was put into the care of the social services department following an earlier court hearing.
"The children who escaped with her are back and they are co-operating and giving information where she can be," said Lesufi.
The girl was had been due to testify on Wednesday, but the case had been postponed to September 30, Lesufi said.
"If the girl is not found, we have been granted permission (by the justice department) to use evidence already recovered and go ahead with the case anyway," said Lesufi.
The Gauteng social services department set up an independent task team to investigate the girl's disappearance.
Last Thursday MEC Angelina Motshekga told reporters in Johannesburg: "The child couldn't take the pressure around the case. The last time we went to visit her with the media she broke down afterwards and took a long time to recover.
She was not coping
"She was feeling too crowded. She didn't want people to talk about it (the case). From the report I have received, it was quite clear she was not coping with the publicity and the pressure of the court case."
According to social worker's reports, the child was suicidal. She had "been on a rollercoaster and looked depressed at times".
The teenager had absconded twice before. The first time she was gone for only a weekend, before turning herself in. This was after the media has visited her.
After absconding for a second time, for two days in July, she was placed in foster care, but she "asked to come back".
"The child experienced her placement as extremely frustrating and limiting her movements," said Motshekga.
- SAPA